And She Emerges....

...with a sheepish grin. Hi. I'm Lynn. You might remember me from such blogs as this one.

Okay, sorry I've been MIA lately. I honestly have been so busy I haven't known if I was coming or going, but I did want to stop by and let you all know I was okay and what I have learned this month.

First off, not all of my absenteeism has been IF related. Work has been super crazy! I am trying to get a new staff member in our area because we really need it! The small amount of time I took off for my doctor's visits and time taken off by my colleague to care for sick children has put our department behind and we are fighting to get caught back up, but the work is coming in at a rate we can't keep up with! Please say a prayer that we can get the new member of staff we so desperately need.

Moving on....the stuff you've been waiting for.....IF progress and bloodwork findings. I have been off Met.formin now for about 3 weeks. So far, so good. My sugar has been slightly elevated, but nothing too terrible. It has been manageable. On the weight loss front, I'm doing okay. I've lost maybe a couple of pounds and, while I haven't completely cut carbs from my diet, I have cut them back considerably. The magnesium supplements don't really seem to have done much for my headaches. I still have pretty bad ones. I'll discuss that with my RE when I see him next. My appointment with the pulmonologist is scheduled for June 9. It will be a consultation for a sleep study and I'll probably get an order to have a pulmonary function test done as well.

Onto bloodwork. All of my bloodwork has now come back (still some to do for The Hubs, but that will come in July). My sugar levels were okay (of course, I'd been on Met.formin for some time when the blood was drawn, so that may have contributed to that), but my triglycerides were very high. My uric acid levels were slightly elevated and I have had gout before, so that is consistent. My TSH levels were fine, as they always are, so would seem to be no suspect for thy.roid problems except.....my TPO (thy.roid perox.idase) levels which are supposed to be under 35 were actually 871!!! For anyone who doesn't know much about this test, this means that the number of antibodies fighting against my thy.roid should be under 35 but there are actually 871, so that means there are some serious thy.roid issues! I haven't started thy.roid medication yet, but it's coming soon. My RE seemed a bit concerned about this and said there was an auto.immune disease present (probably Hash.imoto's or Ord's Disease). The blood test for MTHFR came back positive for heterozygous MTHFR, so we can chaulk up one more problem to add into my already overflowing barrell. And, last but not least, two pro.gesterone draws have indicated levels below 0.7, so this means I will be having another en.dome.trial biopsy done on Monday, June 7. Woo-hoo for me! (I'm sorry, did that sound sarcastic?)

All in all, not the greatest results, but at least we now have more of an idea what we're up against. I'll be able to tell you more (hopefully) after the biopsy on Monday. My RE wants to do one more pro.gesterone test on Monday morning, then Monday afternoon he'll do the biopsy. Fun. At least I've already carried the prescription for my little medication cocktail to the pharmacy to be filled in preparation for the procedure.

Now, moving onto other important things, in lieu of all that has been going on this month (and the fact I haven't yet gotten the June list for Secret Pals up), I'm thinking that this month I won't open the list, but will start it again for July. Those of you who participated in May can carry on celebrating the Pal you had for May throughout June and those wanting to participate can sign up when I open the July list in a couple of weeks. Anyone have any objections to this arrangement? If so, please let me know and I'll reconsider what to do.

In concluding this post, I'll tell you a bit about our Memorial Day and leave you with a photo first. The Hubs and I decided to go to the beach for the day. We didn't wear swimsuits or carry them, because we had no real intention of going in the water. Why then, you may ask, did we go to the beach? Well, despite living most of my life on the coast (well, a couple of hours away), I have never been to the beach. I can't swim and, so, it's never really been a big thing for me. But, The Hubs, being the great guy he is, wanted me to experience it. So, we headed off for Savannah, had a fantastically delicious meal at the Indian restaurant (Pakwan) at the mall (not only was the food great, but it was very inexpensive! we had a lunch buffett each and the total cost - with tip - came to only $25!), and then we headed for the beach! While The Hubs did not go into the water, I did wade a bit. It was my first venture into the ocean. So, on that note, I leave you with a photo most have made when they are small children, but for me came at the grand old age of 31.